I remember back in 2007 when I was till taking a course in management development, one of my professors loved doing Powerpoint presentations. She loved it so much that she would rather read from the slides, put every little detail she wants to say on the slide, and have us all listen to her as she was reading all those details. Indeed, it really was annoying! Personally speaking, I learned more from studying the slides on my own than by listening to her. How I wish this information about How Many Points Should Go on a Slide was already available at that time. We could have all learned so much more.

So now that this information is available to you, take advantage of it! Head over to Ellen Finkelstein’s post and learn how to make your slide presentations more interesting, compelling and educational. You wouldn’t want to turn off your audience by doing something they would rather do silently, wouldn’t you?

We all know that most of presenters today use Powerpoint when doing slide shows. Even those people who use Apple Macbook (like my husband, for instance), they use Powerpoint instead of Keynote when doing slide shows for various presentations. It’s the standard software and it’s simply a must.

But how about for those people who can’t afford to use PowerPoint? Well, don’t fret my dear ones. There are actually FREE alternatives you can use and you can download them or use them as a web-based service. Take a look:

Being able to do great presentations is not just about sharing great information about particular topics of interest. If you want to have an amazing presentation, if you desire to teach something that will blow the minds of of your audience and make them remember you and your teaching for a long time, you have to be able to gain the trust of and build a relationship with your audience. If you know what to do, it’s as easy a a piece of cake. For those who need guidance, here are the seven steps to making your presentations compelling and a lot better:

There are different kinds of presentations. Sometimes, we give presentations at a training seminar, at a sales pitch, or at product demo, etc. Is it really crucial to give presentation handouts? If yes, what kinds of handouts do we give out that will assure us maximum participation and interest from our audience?

The answer to this important question is discussed by presentation guru, Ellen Finkelstein, in her blog post, Presentation handouts: Yes or no, what kind, and when?. She detailed three most popular kinds of presentation and from there she gives us some professional advice about the appropriate types of handouts to give out. At one point, she even recommended not giving any handouts at all.

Read more to find out how you can improve your presentation by either giving or not giving handouts and what kind.

Public speaking is something you do that involves three dimensions. When you make your presentations and speak in front of a multitude of people, you have to be conscious of three things:

1. Your Posture
2. Your Voice
3. Your Facial Expression

These three factors come naturally. Most of us are not conscious of them as we use them in our day to day dealings and activities. We stand up, we speak, we for various facial expressions depending on what we are trying to communicate. Sometimes, we may be slouching, at other times, our voice may not be as gentle, sometimes, our face may be registering too much emotional stress. It doesn’t really matter when we’re just chit chatting with our friends or family. But if you are there, on the stage, or in front of clients, doing a presentation, you have to be aware of these things. There may be habits that you need to control and improve on in order for you to be understood better and to be more engaging and interesting when speaking in public.

I’ve shared with you before the nine ways to conquer fear of public speaking. If that is not enough, I’d like to share with you five more things you can do to cope with nerves when speaking in front of hundreds or thousands of people. It usually takes practice and you grow more accustomed to being stared at and listened to by a multitude of people over time. The more you expose yourself to this kind of experience, the more comfortable and confident you’ll get.

Even the most famous and best public speakers in the world have had nerve-wracking public speaking moments at some point in their lives. Take for instance Steve Jobs. When he was just starting, he wasn’t as comfortable and conversational as he is now when he presents. You too can do these tricks below to help you become better at presenting in public.

Olivia Mitchell shared her insights on how one can be a compelling speaker by using the so-called “magic of live”. Presentations that are done live, whether it be public speaking, a concert, a circus act, or any other show looks much more captivating when seen live rather than being seen on TV or heard on the radio. As a presenter and public speaker, how can you be as captivating and compelling?

In reality, it’s not enough to just do it “live”. You have to first know that there are three types of live, find out which type does your presentation fir into, then learn how to rehearse the right way and combine it with the magic of live.